Trump to announce US withdrawal from TPP

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump will sign a decree Monday that effectively ends US participation in a sweeping trans-Pacific free trade agreement negotiated under former president Barack Obama, CNN reported.

The action would be the new president's first move to make good on a campaign vow to scrap the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, which he denounced as a "job killer" and a "rape" of US interests.

The agreement, seen as a counter to China's rising economic influence, was promoted by Washington and aimed to set trade rules for the 21st century. Although signed in 2015, it has not yet gone into effect.

It was signed by 12 countries - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Brunei - that together represent 40 percent of the world economy.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a big supporter of the accord, has said that TPP without the United States would not make sense.

AFP